Letters to the Editor for Jan. 3

Hello again from Stephen Michna, a Commissioner of Conservation. This time I'd like to talk a bit about the Conservation Commission, led by Kim Barbieri and chaired by Christine Altman. The Commission reviews development projects and determines how they impact Torrington in regards to balancing the need for open space while ensuring the economic growth of our city.

Did you know that Torrington has a community garden? Neither did I! After looking into it I found out Torrington actually has TWO community gardens. At a recent Commission meeting, we had Barry McLeod of the Torrington Community Gardens (TCG) stop by and speak to us.

One community garden is located across the street from the Uconn-Torrington campus on University Drive. Here there are 26 plots available and citizens of Torrington are able to rent them to use every year. The second community garden is located on North Main Street, behind the Prime Time House. Here there are 9 garden plots.

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These plots are 10'x20' and can be rented for only $20 a year! Planting begins in the spring and you can use the gardens through October, so plant some tomatoes and pumpkins!

The garden group is also interested in expanding and finding additional plots of land in the South End and lower East Main, where some yard sizes are too small to handle a garden.

If you're interested in a plot, or would like more information on helping out the garden group, feel free to contract me at stephen.michna@gmail.com.

The Conservation Commission meets on the second Thursday of each month at 630pm in Room 304, Torrington City Hall.

--Stephen Michna, Torrington

Sandy Hook

When we search for solutions, the answers are difficult to determine. You seek to balance the scale, Emotion vs. Logic. It's heavier on the emotional side. I ask God to please, take All those 6 and 7 year olds and teachers into Heaven and his heart.

--Bobby Brzozowy, New Hartford

Laws won't stop criminals from having guns

It was refreshing to read an article on private gun ownership ("In Northwest Corner, gun permits up") that was both factual and emotion-free. Many people feel so strongly about the issue on both sides, they find it difficult to discuss rationally.

Because those most emotionally vested in a subject are the most successful in making their views heard, it is difficult for the average citizen to get a practical description of what it means to own a gun, especially a handgun for personal protection.

I tried in www.velocitypress.com/self_defense.html to provide such a clear-eyed description by pointing out the many gun misconceptions, especially by untrained shooters. For example, under the high tension of a shooting encounter, a State Policeman and a felon exchanged nearly a dozen shots at a distance of 15 feet. No one was hit! (This example pretty much scuttles the "Why not shoot-to-wound?" Piety, so popular among the totally uninitiated.) The Glock semi-automatic pistol illustrated is a fine gun, but not for the unmechanical among us. Cleaning it requires a complicated disassembly. Cocking the slide of the famous 1911-type .45 caliber pistol is often beyond the grip-strength of many senior citizens.

Citizens who own a gun for protection against home invasion (e.g. hot burglary) pose no public threat to the innocent. Connecticut is quite liberal in home storage regulations. And concealed carry has also been safe historically, with only a miniscule number of permit holders ever in violation of the law. So legal gun ownership is not the problem.

The real problems lie with criminals, who no law will stop, and the mentally disturbed, whom we don't seem to want to stop. This latter loophole is greatly exacerbated by the mental health industry which under the rubric of "discrimination," tries mightily to prevent anyone from being so classified or reported. Thus, the States rarely pass on to the Federal Government the mental status of many, many people who should be prevented access to guns--in spite of existing laws.

Still, by far the greatest gun violence is over illegal drug conflicts. As long as we do not move to radically solve that enormous problem--say by legalizing all drugs as The Economist suggests--no new draconian gun restrictions will make any difference (but they would make the left feel really good about themselves).

Please accept our heartfelt love and gratitude with regard to the pasta dinner benefit held for our family on Nov. 10. We wish to thank the Eagles Club for use of their premises and those that donated many hours of preparation for this event from start to finish. A very special thank you to Scarpelli's Restaurant in Torrington, all of those at United Construction and Engineering, Inc. in Torrington and The Law Firm of Bendett & McHugh, P.C. in Farmington for their enormous generosity and support for our family during this difficult time. Dozens of our friends as well as businesses in Torrington and Canton graciously donated items for raffles.

Thank you to our wonderful friends who helped organize this event as well as those that continue to keep us in their thoughts and prayers. Many new friendships have since formed which we are eternally grateful.

May God Bless each and every one of you and may He hold you and your family close to His heart to deliver a New Year of love, happiness and good health.